On Tuesday, Ivanka Trump — outwardly a vocal proponent for wage equality — threw her weight behind a decision by her dad’s administration to end an Obama-era policy requiring businesses to report how much women and people of color are paid. As the Washington Post reports, she released a statement explaining her willingness to abolish the rule:
“Ultimately, while I believe the intention was good and agree that pay transparency is important, the proposed policy would not yield the intended results,” Ms. Trump said. “We look forward to continuing to work with EEOC, OMB, Congress and all relevant stakeholders on robust policies aimed at eliminating the gender wage gap.”
As the Post notes, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has always required companies to report data on the race and gender of their employees — the rule proposed in 2016 by the Obama administration would’ve expanded that directive to include information on how those groups are paid. It also would’ve applied to private employers with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with 50 or more employees and was set to take effect in the spring.
Jenny Yang, who was chairwoman of the EEOC at the time the rule was proposed, said it was designed to combat pay discrimination. “Having pay data in summary form will … help us identify patterns that may warrant further investigation,” she said.
But others have argued that the costs of the rule outweigh the benefits. In a memo to the acting head of the EEOC, Neomi Rao — administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs — wrote that “among other things, [Office of Management and Budget (OMB)] is concerned that some aspects of the revised collection of information lack practical utility, are unnecessarily burdensome, and do not adequately address privacy and confidentiality issues.”
She added that the OMB would stay the rule and review it to determine its utility.
Meanwhile, the First Daughter has offered no further comment on the matter, but if this is a ploy to lower expectations, it’s working.